Everlasting Roses
by lostmidtranslation
Summary: There's a rose with a note in the common room. And it's addressed to Katie Bell... Who is it from, and why does he want to meet her after Quidditch Practise? ... T for language somewhere in there


**DISCLAIMER: All recogniseable characters are JK Rowlings. **

**Katie's Point of view. Hope you enjoy it! **

**It's a long OneShot**

--

Roses

Angelina wakes me up at three forty in the morning. She tells me there is a stir around the notice board because of a letter written there, and a single red rose.

"Well, why're you waking me?" I say as I stretch and kick the covers away to reveal my red silk pyjamas. As I grab the glass of water and take a sip from it, Ange bounces on the balls of her feet and drops the bombshell.

"It's addressed to you." The glass shatters and the water seeps into the carpet. I wave my wand and it flies back together, but I still stare.

"Me?" I've always loved roses, and I jump up and slide down the banister to see what's going on.

"Katie! The woman of the moment!" George grabs me and pulls me to the fore of the group. "Well, read it." I pull the note down from the notice board and my eyes flicker over it as I read the words in a handwriting I recognise, but am not sure where from. "What does it say?" I turn to face him.

"A Rose for the Lady, but expect more to come, for each time today I see you, a rose I will bring." My face goes pink and I slip the card into my top pocket.

"There was more on that card," George says, grinning. But how would he- "Tell us."

"Can't. It says so on the card."

"Oh." I walk back up to the dorm room and sit on my bed, sniffing the rose. It smells so sweet, but familiar somehow. Then I open the card again and look at the words.

_**Katie, tonight, by the Quidditch pitch after your practise. Don't tell another soul.**_

Angelina looks up at me as she crouches down to pick up her potions homework from under her bed (which is where everything she doesn't want or want to do resides).

"Well?"

"Oliver grabbed me after I picked up the note. He wants a word after practise." I shrug, not liking the lie. "Make sure you save some dinner for me!" I grin and jump to my feet, then shower, dress and go to class, knowing that's not what she meant, and she'll collar me for it later. At this precise moment, I don't really care.

Potions is a riot, as usual, Snape being particularly vindictive towards us. Until one of the Ravenclaw's potions explodes and splatters both George and I. We look at each other, and half grin, then Snape grabs both of our robe sleeves and pulls us from the dungeon.

"Professor I-"

"Don't move, as far as you possibly can." He advises, genuine concern in his face. "Miss Bell, is your face burning?" Now I think about it, it is.

"Yessir." George is in visible agony too. He sends the pair of us to the hospital wing, we sit and are fixed up in silence by Ponsey Pomfrey, as George calls her.

--

He shoots you a nervous smile as you sit down outside potions, knowing there are three minutes of the lesson, Snape will probably murder you if you knock now, best to go back after the lesson and retrieve your stuff.

George is suddenly your hero. He lets you sit outside, knocks on the door as you stay out of view. You barely hear Snape being aggressive as George disappears for all of a minute and returns with a freshly retrieved bag and potions kit. _Your _freshly retrieved bag and potions kit. When you open the bag, there is another rose.

"Is there a note?" He asks quietly. Expectancy and excitement is somewhere within his voice. You delve deeper. Certainly, it lays there, with silver and pink ink to match the rose.

"Yeah, there is," You whisper, "it says _**A Rose without thorns for the lady, for these, (and she is certainly one of them) are the hardest things to find.**_"

"That's lovely." George whispers, and you rub your arm where Pomfrey has applied the anti-burns paste, and go together to lunch.

--

_**I place the rose down and on the plate and leave the great hall. George will be with her, they will be coming. They'll see but I don't want them to notice me. That could ruin it. As I pass them, I offer a small smile of greeting to George, a simple nod to Katie. She licks her lips in reply and raises her eyebrows. **_

"_**Where are you goin' Fred?" **_

"_**Just the library. I left my bottle of ink… won't be five…"**_

--

As we pass Fred, who tells us he'll be five minutes, just left something in the library, I look into the hall and…

"George, there's another Rose." He looks too and I'm sure it's a smile of triumph which crosses his face. "You don't think… Fred…" I start, but realise that _no. _Fred has Ange. No. Not Fred. I lick my lips again. So, whoever this is, has a partner. And that partner is… Fred? So it could be Lee? Oliver? Or even… George?

I rush to pick up the rose. There is another note, this rose is white, but the ink on the note is green.

"_**Roses are Rainbow, violets are blue, meet me after practise, can't wait to see you."** _George reads over my shoulder. It sounds like something jokey and fun slipping from between his… I look at him again. His chiselled features in this light… just gorgeous.

No. Not thinking that. I like George. I'd go as far as saying I'd marry him if I had half a chance. But he's my best mate. I'd be more likely to be his bridesmaid, rather than his bride.

We eat. Then it's time for Quidditch.

--

You liked Friday afternoons. The Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Oliver Wood, changed that as soon as he mentioned there would be extra practise every Friday. _Without fail_, he muttered, _or else. _You can only assume the _'Or Else'_ would involve serious bodily harm.

So you trudge, because that has what the day has become, a desperate, waiting trudge, through to after practise. Going through the motions in the practise penalties, your Captain saves every one. He stops you as you all go back to the changing rooms.

"Katie… is there something wrong?" He says, his tone more concerned than anything. Strange. Oliver never feels concerned for anything other than the state of the game.

"No." You sigh heavily, "I'm just tired, that's all."

"Look, do you want me to leave the quaffle out for you?" He pushes you to break through your non-existent exhaustion. "So you get some practise shots in?" You nod, helpless, but glad you have an excuse to sit here and wait for them. _Them _who bought you roses, who have successfully made you feel uncomfortable all throughout the day.

You go back to the broom cupboard, to pick up your broom and there lies another rose. Stunned, your CleanSweep eleven falls to the floor. This one is changing colour. Pink, white, blue, green, red, multicoloured. You touch it and it finishes rotating, resting multicoloured. Red all across it, then one or two petals of the other colours. You smile and look at the card.

_Everlasting Roses. Only Four in Existence, Designed especially for you. _

--

I simply look at the rose, then tuck it into my bun and pick up my broom. There's nobody there. Nothing at all - no shadows, no light. Just me, in the centre of the pitch, standing, watching the sun setting in the background. Like a prat, alone.

A noise startles me.

"Hello?" I spin around, drawing my wand immediately. Nobody there. "Hello?" I shout again to make sure, and to make myself feel safer.

The rose falls from my hair, and a hand appears from nowhere to pick it back up. I reach out, recognising the hand as one of a pair. Or, should I say, a set of four. The hand returns to a normal height and I look up at him. Just a disembodied hand.

"You've borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak?!" I ask simply. "George, answer me." When he doesn't, I reach up and tug the cloak from his being. He cries out a little, upset to be revealed, and attempts to snatch it back, but I fold it under my arm, dancing a little out of his reach.

"How did you… did you guess or what?" He leans forward ever so slightly, intrigued, and I smile.

"Curious, George?" I pause, then grin. "How would you know there was more on the first card if I was reading it opposite you? So that nobody else could see it?"

"You've known since this _morning_?" He stares at me, his face starting to redden. "Why didn't you _say_?" His ears turn pink with embarrassment and I smile.

"I wanted to see how far you'd go." It's not a lie, but it's not exactly why. "I wasn't sure, to be honest with you. I thought maybe… it was Lee or someone who had done it and… you were in on it. Playing a prank."

"You thought someone was _playing_ _a __prank_ on you?"

"Well, can you blame me, after last year's valentines day misdemeanours?" He grins and blushes at the memory. "Exactly," I wink and offer him my hand. He takes it and inspects the mud under my fingernails minutely.

"I wouldn't do that to you." He whispers as he tugs me closer by the hand I had offered him. Now we're standing together, chests pressed against each other. "Katie, I really like you." He blushes pink again and I feel a rush of affection I don't usually associate with George. He reaches out to touch my cheek but I pull back slightly. "But you don't like me," He says with a flat edge to his voice.

"No, it's not that." I say softly, "I'd marry you in a second, George, but…"

--

You indicate behind him and feel the bile rise in your throat as the rest of the team stand there, waiting to clap your kiss. George stares at them and tells you sincerely, "It wasn't my idea, I don't know why they…" But you're running already, spinning on your heel and skidding in the mud. George knows where you'll go, so it's perhaps not the best idea, but you run there anyway, and with a skidding stop, come to rest by the Herbology greenhouses. Only there do you throw up, the stench from the greenhouse compost bins making you feel more rotten than before, no matter how impossible you thought that was.

"Katie!" He catches up with you and grips your hand, brushing the sweat from your forehead and sitting down with you. "Kates, please… Just listen to my reasoning."

You shake your head, no.

"Katie, please listen to me!" he begs, missing your dismissal.

"You don't need to explain." You murmur, trying to explain yourself, wait for his arms to tug themselves around you, but when they don't, you do it for him. "George, I…" He smiles at you and you feel that rush of affection again. "Would you kiss me? It would make the moment a little less awkward."

He obliges, snatching your lips mid-sentence, his fingers catching in your hair and a hand on your waist, your right hand gripping his tie, pulling him closer, and your left curving over his shoulder, finally, you know what had been missing from your relationship with him. _This. _His lips curve into a smile as he pulls away, licking them nervously.

"Less awkward?" He smiles and presses his hand against yours like a permanent hi-five.

"Just perfect." The warmth of his body makes you grin to yourself.

--

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it?! **

**I know some of it's a bit random... but still...**

**Please R&R and let me know what you thought!**

**xx**


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